Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-03-01
a wOnrAN HANGED.
,,e Horrible Crime ard Terrible
Penalty of Mrs. Druse.


Mrs. Druse was hanged.
W. ovacrtion was attended with no
Il,,ional feature, except what arose
eeuhor GOV 1t was conducted with due
lI vm in private in the presence OF
nv tho twenty-five persons permitted by
OIL -. he nresent Because the Grimm al
u" woman. great interest has attached
r~ar case. nut from that cause only.
m.e, yo.tner to-day was piercing cold,
Inc .ho ,owu was thronged with people,
pu' norlG only stand outside the walls Of
wa isil A guard of one company OF
nlEi;,a had been provided to keep order.
mt their presence was only from excess
7fcautlon' =, ord vas
melI.sized woman with narrow face,
Eminent nose, black bead-like eyes and
oa nnssessed or much physical strength
Ss made several statements regarding
81 81 crime. in all OF them maintaining that
~ husband attacked her with a KNIFE
nr sd may. and that she had put the pis-
s sIu in her bosom because she feared vio-
INCA from him. The pistol was one
Snich chester Gates had given to Mary
nTnse wear before the tragedy.
Mrs. Druse mad great a1ectlon Tor her
chIdrpn, and they fully returned 1t.
hiring the late days of her imprisonment
eha
s,wers of colored tissue paper, which she
ant m her daughter in the penitentiary
I'D m such people as had been kind to
her. 49,
,,rrdered. according to the story pub
i'sh,d in the New York Sun, lived on
form ~ sixty acres which was given to
Inn, by mis- tatner many years before, and
which was situated in the township OF
Warren. In the southern part OF Herkt-
mer county, near the Otsego county line,
- only about tour mies rom Ricbbeld
sAngs. he was known as shiftless,
rnrthiess sort Of fellow, who abused
histamilv outrageously, but wbo'was al
ways ready to help nelghbor to the ne-
c,ect Of his own work. He was 81 years
oId at the tlme of his death. He was mar
ripd to the woman VINO was hanged to-
nav on November -, 1884, and they had
three children. Mary, the eldest.
who is now in Onondaga penitentiary UNI
der a life sentence for participation IN the
murder of her father, is now "A years OF
spe: she was 10 when the crime was CON-
mitted, The next child in aye was Nellie.
wno was hali-witted. and who died at the
age OF 10 George, the youngest, who is
now only y wears old, and who was barely
7when the horrible tragedy took place,
and OF which he was partial witness
and even a partial participant, 10 now
left with no one to look amer m, his
guardian, Charles PETIT, having died only
last week.
That Druse made his wife and bis chill
dren lead the lives OF dogs there is no
manner of doubt. From his boyho0d up
he was noted for his ungOvernable temper.
He seemed TO be half daft in some ways.
He had mania for reading newspapers
through from beginning TO end. He would
walk miles to a farm house where he had
heard comparatively fresh paper was to
be seen. and he would sit far INTO the
night, and long after the farmer and his
family had gone to led, in order to puzzle
out every line and word of the print. His
first outbreak against his wife, which &C.
cured within a fortnight OF their mar
rage, grew out of newspaper which he
had boarded away and when she had
used, thinking no harm, to make pat
tern OF some kim with. AS the years OF
their married lite dragged on, things went
gradually from bad To worse, and Druse
became more and more unbearabIe IN his
conduct. He chOked mis- wife until she
was insensible at one time, beat her with
Dorse whip at another, and kicked and
euted her more or less nearly every day
Of her lite, and rarely spoke to her
without a Wiley of Oaths. His chill
dren be treated in much the same
way. Naturally euough his family
hated The sight of him. Between the
mother and children, on the other hand,
there was the warmest affection. Mrs.
DIuse herself was, from all accounts, a
woman of by no means a bad disposition.
ehe was born but u few miles from where
She lived, but at the age OF 10 years she
vas lett without father or mother, and
had fAf
bhe worked out In the various farm
houses, and in the season picked hops.
twas on one of these nOp-picklng occa-
scns that Druse first met her. Her
maiden name was RoXalQCa Teft.
IL would seem from all that is known
tAat the woman did about all she could to
Keep her family together and roof over
their heads, for the burden of the work
lel upon 1er. Druse mortgagrd his farm
again and again and squHndered she
money. lie would go away and be zone
lor weeks, leaving his family without
1000 or iuel, and his wife had to chop
wood ard dig frozen potatoes from the
ground IN which Druss had buried them
ts tuey were dug. lie was always talk
Ing aDout going to California or Oregon.
ana us wife would tell him she WAS quite
ready TO 20 there or anywhere il she
coulu only keep her children about her
ana her husband would do what be ought
Wdo' But Druse had not the energy 10
70 away or TO lead any other than the
'sgaOond lie he did lead. A more
uueIiy miserable little household could
h0I we'll be imagined.
Tue nearest neighbor5 30 the Druse
we're william ElwoOd, a young married
man, who lived about halt a mile 10 the
east' ana Charles Gates, who lived about
ral mile to the west of the DIuse house.
Yates Was married to Mrs. DruSe's sis
E@r' ana mad twos0ns, Chester and Frank.
.AesteF at Ihe Time OF the murder was Is
hears ol age, year younger shan Mary
inIse, win whom he Is said TO have been
~ 1--WE ana TO have wished to marry, but
tiuss would not give his consent. Frank,
youngest Gates boy, occasionally
S ohle over TO work for the Druses, and
w." witness to many OF Druse's out
"e"hs Oh temper. Both William ElwOOG
~" Chesler Gates were frequent visitors
the Drise house, and tlere was
Druse. -"''0 Gnu DA''
NJ. ne rest OF the farmers around about
"'u Httie 10 do with the Druses.
~ WAS on the morning OF Dec. Is. the
,So,ulhg OF the murder as it aftcrward
NJ splTed, tnat peculiar state OF affairs
h~ houced about the Druse house. A
t,inn'eF woo was driving by noticed two
ninss' FIRST, that newspapers were
hmned up at the front windows of the
MA g, ana second, thatiro the chimney
r., RON hole In the side of the house
s So Wbion TIE pipe from the pari0r
v ,Vue issued there were coming dense
,Vlumes Of thick yalIowiah smnLa ,yh,ch